ITS   MEMORIES   OF  THE  PAST. 


The  President's  Address 


LAST  MEETING  IN  THE  OLD  CLUB  HOUSE, 


ON   UNION  SQUARE, 


Thursday  Bve?ihiff,  March  20,  7868. 


Club  Housi;,   >Ia  i>i^otv  Square 

Lfc  Twenty-sixth  Street,  corner  of  Madison  Avenne.  J 

^  -as.  A 


Pinion  ^QectQue  (Slub 

OF  NEW- YORK. 


izx  ICthrtH 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  hook 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book.'' 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


UNION  LEAGUE  CLUB 


OF  NEW-YOEK. 
Sits  Memories  of  the  fhtst. 

The  President's  Address 

AT  THE 

LAST  MEETING  IN  THE  OLD  CLUB  HOUSE, 

ON  UNION  SQUARE, 
Thursday  Evening,  March  26,  7868. 


CLUB    HOUSE,    MADISON  SQUARE, 

Twenty-Sixth  Street,  cor.  of  Madison  Ave. 
1868. 


217  5 


The  Union  League  Club. 

ITS  MEMORIES  OF  THE  PAST. 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  ADDRESS. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Union  League  Club  of 
New-York,  held  at  the  old  Club-IIouse  on  Union  Square, 
on  Thursday  evening,  the  26th  March,  18G8,  Mr.  Jay, 
on  taking  the  chair,  said  : 

Gentlemen  : 

The  Executive  Committee  announce  that  the  new 
Club -House  will  presently  be  ready  to  receive  us. 
They  have  called  this  meeting,  the  last  that  we  shall 
hold  in  these  rooms,  believing  that  the  Club  would 
deem  it  both  proper  and  pleasant  to  assemble  once 
more  in  this  accustomed  place,  before  we  leave  it  for- 
ever :  and  recall  the  scenes  through  which  we  have  to- 
gether passed,  and  the  work  which  we  have  assisted 
to  accomplish,  since  we  came  to  this  Union  Square. 


4 


In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  Committee,  I 
propose  to  detain  you  a  few  minutes  with  a  brief  review 
of  our  Club  history,  and  then  to  call  upon  gentlemen, 
whose  voices  always  command  the  attention  of  the  Club, 
and  whose  participation  in  its  work,  and  devotion  to  its 
principles,  make  it  especially  fitting  that  they  should 
be  heard  to-night. 

The  change  that  awaits  us  in  our  new  quarters  will  be 
greatly  to  our  advantage,  in  the  sj^aciousness  of  the 
edifice,  and  the  perfectness  of  its  appointments,  as  re- 
gards the  Assembly  Hall,  the  Restaurant,  the  Reading- 
Room,  the  Art  Gallery,  and  the  Library;  and  yet,  in 
view  of  the  memories  that  cluster  around  this  spot,  but 
few  of  us  will  leave  it  without  regret. 

As  we  recall  these  memories,  the  thought  of  Longfel- 
low, in  his  "  Golden  Milestone,"  naturally  suggests  itself : 

"  We  may  build  more  splendid  habitations, 

Fill  our  rooms  with  paintings  and  with  sculptures  ; 
But  we  can  not 

Buy  with  gold  the  old  associations."' 

The  life  of  the  Club  has  been  measured  by  events,  and 
not  by  time.  We  have  been  here  but  a  few  years,  and 
yet,  during  those  years  we  were  part  of  a  movement 
that  advanced  the  world  more  than  it  has  sometimes 
moved  in  as  many  centuries. 

We  have  borne  our  part  in  a  contest  waged  by  slavery 
and  its  allies  against  the  Republic  of  our  fathers :  and 
our  victory,  complete  and  overwhelming,  has  disap- 
pointed the  enemies  of  republican  institutions  in  the 
Vatican,  the  Tuileries,  and  the  British  House  of  Lords. 


5 


The  government  which  they  thought  too  helpless  to 
avenge  a  wrong  or  an  insult,  holds  already  the  first  rank 
among  the  powers  of  the  world  ;  not  alone  in  the  extent 
of  its  territory  and  its  unrivaled  ability  to  raise  armies 
and  equip  navies,  but  in  the  devotion  of  its  people  to 
their  Constitution  and  their  flag,  and  in  the  moral  influ- 
ence which  makes  the  name  of  America  an  inspiration  to 
every  people  contending  for  their  rights. 

In  the  recent  historic  drama,  of  which  our  country 
was  the  scene,  and  nations  the  spectators,  the  role  per- 
formed by  this  Club  can  be  appreciated  only  by  those 
who  know  the  extent  of  its  labors  and  of  its  influence 
in  giving  courage  and  expression  to  popular  sentiment, 
and  shape  and  strength  to  the  policy  of  the  administra- 
tion. Its  services  were  well  understood  at  "Washington, 
and  Mr.  Speaker  Colfax,  in  a  terse  but  pregnant  sentence, 
referred  to  the  Club  as  "  that  noble  organization  on  which 
the  Government  leaned  in  the  darkest  hour  of  trial  and 
of  peril." 

NEW-YORK  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  WAR. 

The  position  of  New-York,  during  the  contest,  was  ma- 
terially influenced  by  the  members  of  this  Club.  When 
Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  co-conspirators  commenced 
the  war,  it  was  not  simply  with  the  assurance  of  Mr. 
Ex-President  Pierce,  that  the  fighting  should  be  "with- 
in our  own  borders,  and  in  our  own  streets,"  but 
with  the  assurance,  also,  that  New- York,  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  South,  would  side  with  the  Rebel- 


6 


lion,  and  stand  as  a  breakwater  between  the  rebels  and 
the  indignant  patriotism  of  the  North.  In  January 
1861,  soon  after  the  secession  of  South-Carolina,  Mr. 
Fernando  Wood,  then  Mayor  of  our  city,  suggested  to 
the  Common  Council  that  a  dissolution  of  the  Union 
seemed  inevitable,  and  it  was  proper  that  New-York 
should  be  prepared  to  declare  herself  a  free  city,  inde- 
pendent alike  of  the  National  and  State  Governments ; 
and  an  association  was  secretly  organized  with  a  view 
to  carry  out  the  project  at  a  convenient  season. 

The  sitting  of  the  Peace  Congress  delayed  the  out- 
break of  the  Rebellion ;  and  when  Sumter  was  attacked 
and  the  old  flag  humbled,  we  answered  the  rebel 
guns  of  Moultrie  by  the  memorable  gathering  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  in  this  Square,  whose  voices,  clear, 
ringing,  and  defiant,  sounded  the  key-note  of  the  patriot- 
ism of  the  country.  It  announced  to  the  world  the  re- 
solution of  the  North,  that  the  Republic,  at  whatever 
cost,  should  continue  one  and  indivisible.  It  exploded 
the  schemes  of  the  Northern  sympathizers  with  seces- 
sion. Even  Mr.  Wood,  forgetful  of  his  first  sug- 
gestion, hastened  to  defend  the  policy  of  President 
Lincoln.  During  the  year  1861,  our  city  put  into  the 
field  60,000  volunteers,  and  loaned  to  the  Government 
over  a  hundred  millions  of  money. 

The  Sumter  meeting  in  this  Square  was  suggested  by 
Colonel  Cannon  to  a  few  gentlemen  hastily  assembled 
at  the  office  of  the  late  Simeon  Draper,  and  the  arrange- 
ments were  completed  at  the  house  of  our  associate, 
Mr.  McCtirdy  ;  and  the  arrival  of  Major  Anderson 
and  his  little  force,  with  the  tattered  flag  of  Sumter, 


7 


added  to  the  solemnity  and  intensity  of  the  scene. 
Those  were  stirring  times,  and  events  followed  in  quick 
succession  which  soon  converted  our  city  into  a  camp, 
and  filled  our  parks  with  barracks.  Sumter  surren- 
dered on  the  14th  of  April ;  on  the  1  Stli  we  greeted  the 
Massachusetts  Sixth  as  it  passed  through  New-York; 
on  the  morning  of  the  19th,  our  own  Seventh  followed, 
representing  the  bravest  and  best  blood  of  the  metropo- 
lis; and  on  the  20th  was  the  grand  meeting.  .Among 
the  speakers  were  two  who  were  soon  to  fall  in  the  great 
cause  they  so  eloquently  advocated — Colonel  Baker  and 
Professor  Mitchell ;  and  presently  the  country  was  again 
startled  at  learning  of  the  massacre  at  Baltimore,  and 
that  communication  with  Washington  was  cut  off. 


CAUSES  THAT  LED  TO  THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  CLUB. 

In  the  next  year  the  dilatory,  pro-slavery  policy  of  the 
government,  and  the  extreme  caution  that  ruled  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  created  profound  dissatisfaction  ; 
and  with  the  cry  of  "a  more  vigorous  prosecution*  of  the 
war,"  aided  by  the  perfidy  of  professed  Republicans, 
Mr.  Horatio  Seymour,  who  had  denounced  the  war  as 
unconstitutional,  was  elected  governor,  and  our  brave 
Wadsworth  returned  to  the  front,  and  fell  in  the  Wilder- 
ness. The  policy  now  developed  of  encouraging  the  Re- 
bellion, and  thwarting  the  Government,  emboldened  by 
the  Papal  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  show- 
ed that  we  had  as  dangerous  an  enemy  to  contend  with 
at  home,  as  that  which  our  armies  were  confronting  in 


8 


the  field.  In  the  West  there  was  the  formidable  con- 
spiracy of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle ;  in  New- 
York,  a  society,  professedly  "  for  the  diffusion  of  political 
knowledge,"  issued  tracts  defending  slavery,  assailing  the 
Government,  apologizing  for  the  rebels,  and  demanding 
peace.  There  were  alien  writers  and  a  factious  press, 
denying  our  nationality,  and  repeating  the  fallacies  of 
the  London  Times ;  and  all  these  anti-national  move- 
ments were  encouraging  not  only  the  rebels,  but  our 
European  foes,  who  were  bent  on  intervention;  while 
Lord  Lyons  reported  to  his  government  the  views 
of  Democratic  leaders  in  New-York,  and  Mr.  Drouyn 
de  Lhuys  referred,  in  his  circular  inviting  European  me- 
diation and  intervention,  to  the  encouragement  afforded 
for  the  scheme  by  the  progress  of  the  peace  party  in  the 
Northern  States.  So  confident  of  success  was  this 
secession  party  in  New- York,  backed  as  they  were  by 
the  Pope,  Louis  Napoleon,  and  the  English  Tories,  and 
by  a  constituency  of  naturalized  citizens,  stronger  in 
number  than  in  intelligence,  with  but  small  apprecia- 
tion of  American  principles,  and  yet  less  regard  to 
American  honor,  that  its  members  began  to  vaunt  their 
treason  in  our  social  circles  and  business  marts,  with 
an  insolent  boldness  that  it  stirs  the  blood  even  to  re- 
member. Apart  from  their  plottings  at  home,  we  found 
that  they  were  assuming  to  represent  the  opinions  of  the 
higher  circles  of  New-York,  and  were  misleading  Euro- 
pean Cabinets  and  the  European  press  into  the  belief 
that  the  wealth  and  culture  of  the  American  metropolis 
were  all  arrayed  on  the  side  of  the  Rebellion. 

It  was  to  grapple  with  this  treason,  and  make  it 


0 

powerless  and  contemptible,  that  the  Union  League 
Club  was  formed  in  the  beginning  of  1863,  and  from 
the  start,  its  power  was  felt  more  and  more,  until 
New-York  became,  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
the  national  centre  of  patriotic  sentiment. 

In  April,  18G3,  avc  organized,  in  this  square,  another 
grand  meeting,  on  the  second  anniversary  of  the  sur- 
render of  Sumter,  when  a  hundred  gentlemen,  our  wel- 
come guests,  represented  on  the  occasion  that  noble 
body,  the  Union  League  of  Philadelphia. 

THE  NEW-YORK  RIOTS. 

In  July,  18G3,  hard  upon  the  victories  of  Vicksburg 
and  Gettysburg,  occurred  the  so-called  riots,  organized 
avowedly  to  resist  the  draft,  but,  in  reality,  to  over- 
throw law  and  order,  and  to  array  the  city  against 
the  Government. 

The  plot  was  undoubtedly  organized  at  Richmond;  and 
before  the  result  was  known,  it  was  announced  by  the 
commander  of  a  rebel  ram  near  the  coast  of  Europe,  that 
New-York  was  by  that  time  in  the  hands  of  the  Con- 
federates ;  and  if  Lee  had  been  successful,  and  Meade 
defeated,  the  riots  that  culminated  in  arson  and  mur- 
der were  intended  to  have  accomplished  a  revolution, 
converting  New-York  into  a  rebel  city. 

Roused  by  the  emergency,  the  Club  hastened  to  aid 
the  Government  by  raising  volunteers,  and,  with  a 
true  boldness,  resolved  that  their  first  regiment  should 
be  of  that  injured  race  whose  wrongs  had  imperiled 


10 

the  Republic;  and  who  had  been  recently  massacred 
in  our  streets  with  some  features  of  atrocity,  that 
rivaled  those  of  the  massacre  of  the  Huguenots  on 
the  Eve  of  St.  Bartholomew. 


THE  CLUBS  COLORED  REGIMENTS. 


The  authority  to  raise  a  black  regiment,  which  was 
demanded  from  the  State  and  refused  by  Governor 
Seymour,  was  asked  and  obtained  by  Colonel  Cannon 
and  Colonel  Bliss,  from  Mr.  Secretary  Stanton.  About 
the  same  time  the  patriotic  women  of  New- York  met 
in  these  rooms  to  organize  the  Metropolitan  Fair  for 
the  Sanitary  Commission.  That  fair  netted  a  million 
of  money  for  our  wounded  soldiers,  and  was  rendered 
memorable  by  the  interesting  sword-contest,  which  the 
Club  helped  to  decide,  between  Generals  Grant  and 
McClellan — a  decision  which  was  in  no  way  reversed 
by  the  Presidential  election.  Again  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  the  members  of  the  Club,  true  to  the 
noblest  instincts  of  woman's  character,  and  hardly 
conscious  that  their  example  was  to  exert  so  large 
an  influence  throughout  the  land,  in  giving  new  con- 
fidence to  their  loyal  countrymen,  and  dispiriting  all 
renegade  Americans,  met  here  to  provide  stands  ot 
colors  for  our  black  regiments.  Eight  months  after 
the  week  of  terror,  when  men  were  hunted  to  death 
in  our  streets  for  no  crime  but  their  complexion,  we 
reviewed,  in  this  square,  the  Twentieth  Regiment  of 
United  States  Colored  Troops,  whose  soldierly  bear- 


11 


ing  and  thorough  discipline  commanded  universal  admi- 
ration. 

Yon  will  remember — for  it  wafl  a  scene  not  to  be 
forgotten  —  that,  after  receiving  the  colors  from  Dr. 
Charles  King,  in  the  presence  of  the  donors,  repre- 
senting our  social  circles,  they  marched  down  Broad- 
way to  their  steamer,  at  the  foot  of  Canal  street, 
preceded  by  members  of  the  Club,  and  cheered  by 
the  patriotic  citizens  who  thronged  the  line  of  march. 

The  story  of  that  ovation  to  a  black  regiment  in 
New-York  was  presently  known  throughout  the  coun- 
try, and  so  revolutionized  popular  sentiment,  that,  as 
we  were  told  by  a  distinguished  officer  from  the  South- 
west, officers  who  had  hesitated  to  accept  commands  in 
colored  regiments,  immediately  hastened  to  fill  the  posi- 
tions they  had  before  declined. 

Then  followed  our  second  regiment,  the  Twenty-sixth 
United  States  Colored  Troops,  which  sailed  on  Easter- 
Sunday,  headed  by  their  brave  Colonel  Silliman,  who 
so  soon  redeemed  with  his  life  the  pledge  he  gave  on 
receiving  the  colors,  that  he  and  his  men  "would  love, 
honor,  and  protect  them  with  their  lives." 

Of  our  black  troops  we  were  assured  that  not  a 
soldier  deserted  in  camp,  on  the  march,  or  in  the  field ; 
that  they  never  trampled  on  their  oaths,  nor  violated 
their  honor;  and  that  their  steady  gallantry,  in  the 
face  of  danger  and  death,  showed  how  well  they  had 
learned  the  first  duty  of  a  citizen — that  he  must  be 
ready  to  die  for  his  country. 

In  addition  to  nearly  three  full  colored  regiments, 
the  Club  raised  also  some  three  thousand  men  for  the 


12 


Second  Corps,  under  General  Hancock,  in  whose  be- 
half a  new  committee  of  sixteen,  active,  skillful,  and 
energetic,  raised  some  $280,000,  and  fanned  into  a 
temporary  flame  the  dull  patriotism  of  Tammany  Hall. 

THEfLOYAL  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  Club,  the  Loyal 
Publication  Society  sprang  into  existence  under  the 
auspices  of  some  of  our  members,  led  by  our  associate, 
Mr.  Blodgett,  after  a  consultation  with  officers  of  the 
Government  at  Washington,  as  to  the  best  mode  of 
counteracting  the  influence  of  the  disloyal  press.  The 
publications  of  this  Society,  eighty-eight  in  number, 
were  continued  throughout  the  struggle,  and  to  its 
influence  the  country  was  indebted  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Army  and  Navy  Journal. 

THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION. 

In  1864,  the  Club  was  actively  engaged  in  the  Presi- 
dential canvass  that  resulted  in  the  reelection  of  Mr. 
Lincoln. 

That  great  moral  triumph,  even  more  significantly 
than  our  victories  in  the  field,  saved  us  from  the  rule 
of  what  the  late  Senator  Dickinson  used  to  call  "the 
Hessian  Democracy,"  who  continued  to  befriend  the 
slave-masters  of  the  South,  even  when  in  arms  against 
the  Constitution ;  who,  in  the  interest  of  the  Confede- 
rates, assailed  the  honor  and  credit  of  their  own  Gov- 


13 


ernment;  and  who,  had  they  been  able,  would  have 
compelled  the  Administration  at  Washington  to  sur- 
render our  integrity,  our  principles,  and  our  flag  to  the 
usurping  despotism  at  Richmond. 

SOLDIERS'  AND  SAILORS'  THANKSGIVING  DINNER. 

The  Club  may  have  forgotten,  but  our  soldiers  and 
sailors  have  not,  the  Thanksgiving  dinner  sent  to  the 
army  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  along  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac  and  the  James ;  and  to  the  At- 
lantic Squadron,  from  Sandy  Hook  to  ISTewbern.  That 
graceful  attention  pleasantly  reminded  our  brave  de- 
fenders that,  if  they  had  left  behind  those  who  de- 
nounced them  as  hirelings,  who  refused  to  rejoice  at 
their  victories,  and  endeavored  to  deprive  them  of  their 
votes,  they  had  left,  also,  those  who  were  both  ready 
and  able  to  protect  them  from  the  fire  in  the  rear, 
guarding  religiously  their  rights  and  their  honor,  and 
holding  their  services  and  their  sacrifices  in  affectionate 
remembrance. 

OTHER  MEMORIES  OF  THE  OLD  CLUB-HOUSE. 

How  they  crowd,  gentlemen,  upon  our  memory,  the 
scenes  that  these  rooms  have  witnessed  during  the 
weary  years  of  war — the  exhibition  of  stern  devotion, 
of  earnest  counseling,  of  prompt  action,  of  anxiety, 
and  joy,  and  sorrow,  as  battles  were  being  fought, 


14 


and  the  result  was  victory  or  defeat,  with  the  loss  of 
the  dearest  and  bravest  of  our  kinsmen  and  acquaint- 
ance ! 

The  echoes  yet  linger  in  this  place,  of  the  cheery 
shouts  which  greeted  the  dispatches  that  told  of  Vicks- 
burg  and  Gettysburg,  of  Sherman's  march  and  Sheri- 
dan's raid  ;  and  which,  through  the  night  of  the  Pre- 
sidential election,  till  four  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
hailed  the  telegrams  that  assured  us  that  Lincoln 
was  elected. 

There  are  echoes  of  the  voices  that  trembled  with 
emotions  of  thankfulness  too  deep  for  words,  when 
we  knew  that  Richmond  had  fallen,  that  the  struggle 
was  ended,  and  the  country  saved ;  and  again  of  the 
voices  that  trembled  with  grief,  when  we  knew  that 
Lincoln  was  dying  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 

How  striking  an  example  of  the  un-American  and 
brutalizing  influences  of  a  sympathy  with  slavery  and 
rebellion  was  presented  as  the  remains  of  our  mur- 
dered President  passed  through  New- York,  on  their 
funereal  way  to  his  western  home,  when  the  municipal 
authorities  of  the  city  intrusted  with  the  arrangements 
seized  that  opportunity  to  offer  a  last  insult  to  the 
memory  of  the  great  emancipator,  by  refusing  to  our 
colored  citizens  who  mourned  him  as  their  father,  a 
place  in  the  procession  ! 

That  act,  so  kindred  in  sj)irit  to  the  bloody  riots  of 
July,  showed  significantly  the  instincts  and  animus  of 
the  party  which,  in  New- York,  sympathized  with  the 
Confederates  in  their  war  upon  the  Union,  and  who, 
to-day,  consistently  oppose  its  reconstruction.    And  it 


15 


gives  an  idea  of  the  low  point  of  civilization  to  which 
a  faction  can  sink  when  it  discards  the  sentiment  of 
loyalty  and  tramples  under  foot  the  National  Con- 
stitution and  the  rights  of  humanity;  and  when  its 
leaders,  instead  of  seeking  to  elevate  the  tone  of 
foreign  and  uninstructed  masses,  consent  to  foster 
their  prejudices  and  to  descend  to  their  level. 

Soon  came  the  homeward  tramp  of  the  armies,  before 
whose  prowess  had  vanished,  like  smoke,  the  designs  of 
the  enemies  of  our  country  in  the  old  world  and  in  the 
new;  and  then  the  Club  undertook  the  duty,  not  alto- 
gether free  from  sadness,  of  welcoming  and  providing 
with  a  "  Soldiers'  Rest,"  the  troops  of  New-England  and 
New- York,  weary  and  worn  by  many  a  hard  campaign, 
bearing  proudly  their  victorious  colors.  Their  thinned 
ranks  told  of  the  gaps  made  by  shot  and  shell,  and 
fever,  and  recalled  the  missing  comrades  who  slept 
where  they  had  fallen  on  the  battle-fields  of  the  Re- 
public, the  heroic  victims  of  the  traitorous  policy  of 
the  advocates  of  slavery  and  secession. 


THE  GUESTS  OF  THE  CLUB. 

AVe  have  pleasant  memories,  gentlemen,  of  the  guests 
whom  we  have  here  entertained;  for  the  Club  has  been 
always  ready,  as  representing  the  loyal  men  of  our  na- 
tional metropolis,  to  extend  a  cordial  hospitality  to 
those  who,  by  voice,  or  sword,  or  pen,  have  deserved 
well  of  the  American  people. 

Of  the  Army,  we  have  thus  greeted  Grant  and  Sher- 


16 


man,  and  Meade  and  Sheridan,  Hancock  and  Hooker, 
Warren,  Burnside,  and  a  host  of  others. 

Of  the  Navy,  Farragut,  our  great  admiral,  whose 
name  recalls  New-Orleans  and  Mobile ;  Dupont,  Ro- 
gers ;  Winslow,  after  destroying  the  English  pirate, 
the  Alabama;  and  the  youthful  Gushing,  who,  in  re- 
sponse to  our  cheers,  alluded  with  such  modest  grace 
to  his  wondrous  and  unexampled  exploit,  the  sinking 
of  the  Albemarle. 

Of  our  statesmen,  we  have  greeted  continually  the 
most  eminent  senators  and  members  from  "Washing- 
ton, loyal  governors  of  loyal  States,  representatives 
from  the  great  West,  the  future  seat  of  American 
power,  and  loyal  citizens  from  the  States  recently  in  re- 
bellion, who  like  the  brave-hearted  Pettigrew,  whose 
portrait  adorns  these  walls,  stood  by  the  flag  of  their 
country,  faithful  among  the  faithless. 

Here,  also,  we  have  received  some  of  our  Southern 
countrymen,  who  although  recently  arrayed  against  us, 
had  accepted  the  result  of  the  war  and  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery,  and  were  ready  to  unite  in  the  work 
of  reconstruction,  on  the  basis  of  freedom  and  educa- 
tion, as  the  only  way  of  restoring  the  waste  and 
desolation  which  their  Northern  allies  had  brought 
upon  the  South  by  luring  them  into  war. 

Lastly,  among  our  welcome  guests  have  been  illus- 
trious representatives  of  the  friends  of  our  country  in 
France  and  England,  Italy,  Switzerland,  and  Germany  : 
men  who,  like  Goldwin  Smith,  Auguste  Laugel,  and 
Newman  Hall,  spoke  not  alone  for  the  enlightened 
publicists  and  statesmen  of  their  respective  countries, 


17 


whose  observation  and  genius  had  taught  them  to 
appreciate  the  American  question,  but  for  the  masses  of 
the  people — the  working  classes,  who  instinctively  felt 
that  the  cause  of  the  slaveholders  was  the  cause  of 
their  oppressors,  and  that  their  own  hopes  were  all 
involved  in  the  fate  of  the  Republic. 


THE  DEAD. 

Sadder  recollections  again  recur  to  us  as  we  remem- 
ber the  dead  whom  we  have  been  called  to  mourn. 

Chief  among  these  were :  Wadsworth,  that  noble  ex- 
emplar of  modern  chivalry  ;  Robert  B.  Minturn,  the 
iirst  President  of  the  Club,  recognized  far  and  near 
as  the  model  of  a  Christian  merchant ;  Captain  Charles 
II.  Marshall,  another  of  our  Presidents,  the  large- 
hearted,  open-handed,  frank-spoken,  true-souled  pa- 
triot, denouncing  the  lukewarm  American,  whether  at 
home  or  in  Europe,  as  the  least  honorable  of  trai- 
tors, and  laboring  to  the  last  hour  to  save  the  coun- 
try; William  Curtis  Xoyes,  the  accomplished  and  elo- 
quent jurist,  whom  no  temptation  could  swerve  from  his 
integrity;  Colonel  George  F.  Noyes,  our  gallant  and 
true  associate,  so  suddenly  called  away  in  the  vigor  of 
manhood  ;  Dudley  B.  Fuller,  who  has  so  recently  fol- 
lowed him  to  a  better  world ;  Elbridge  Gerry,  our 
venerable  friend,  whose  interest  in  the  Club  grew  more 
tender  and  devoted  with  advancing  years;  General 
William  K.  Strong,  always  hopeful  and  enthusiastic, 
and  ready  for  any  duty ;  those  two  noble  brothers,  John 
2 


18 


A.  King  and  Charles  King,  whose  ancestral  claims  to 
regard  were  eclipsed  by  their  own  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  their  country ;  and,  last  of  all, 
our  more  than  brother,  John  Albion  Andrew,  the 
greatest,  wisest,  purest  of  our  statesmen,  whom  the 
country  has  not  ceased  to  mourn — a  man,  true  alike 
to  his  principles  and  his  friends,  with  a  devotion  un- 
marred  by  egotism  or  personal  vanity,  and  a  dignity 
of  character  that  forbade  him  to  descend  from  the 
high  position  of  a  disinterested  citizen,  to  the  low 
level  of  an  office-seeking  politician. 


THE  UNBROKEN  UNITY  OF  THE  CLUB. 

There  is  one  thought  upon  which  the  historian  will 
linger  as  he  writes  the  history  of  the  war,  which  finds 
illustrations  throughout  the  country,  but  perhaps  no- 
where a  more  striking  one  than  in  this  Club. 

I  refer  to  the  unbroken  harmony  with  which  hundreds 
of  gentlemen,  members  of  all  professions  and  pursuits, 
representing,  in  the  past,  antagonistic  parties  and  all 
phases  of  opinion,  political  and  religious,  came  together 
with  a  simple  pledge  of  loyalty  and  a  common  bond  of 
union  in  the  danger  that  overhung  the  country,  and 
acted  and  worked  together  as  men  have  seldom  worked 
before,  in  social  circles  and  in  business  walks,  in  the  re- 
cruiting camp,  the  field,  and  the  hospital,  in  the  State 
Legislature,  the  Halls  of  Congress,  and  the  council 
chamber  of  the  Executive,  calling  to  their  aid  the 
pulpit  and  the  press,  the  lyceum  and  the  stump,  and 


19 


arousing  and  directing  the  energies  of  the  people  to 
resist  the  grand  conspiracy  of  the  slaveholders  in  the 
South,  of  their  abettors  in  the  North,  and  their  allies  in 
Europe,  for  the  overthrow  of  popular  government  as 
embodied  in  the  American  Republic. 

ITS  SUCCESS. 

But  the  unanimity  of  the  Club  has  not  been  more 
remarkable  than  its  success.  The  Executive  Commit- 
tee well  remarked,  in  a  recent  report :  "  The  Club  has 
no  long  Mstory  to  point  back  to ;  but  it  has  lived  long 
enough  to  see  every  principle  and  every  measure  which 
it  has  vindicated  and  espoused  honorably  successful." 

In  the  face  of  the  most  determined  opposition,  the 
Club  advocated  at  Washington  the  enlistment  of  the 
blacks,  and  the  adoption  by  Congress  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Amendment  abolishing  slavery,  that  grandest 
enactment  of  the  age ;  and  when  the  war  was  ended, 
the  Club  was  among  the  first  to  demand  as  the  true 
basis  of  reconstruction,  a  system  of  suffrage  which 
should  be  just  and  equal,  and  which  should  render 
impossible  for  all  coming  time  the  reestablishment  of 
the  aristocratic  and  sectional  caste  which  had  waged 
war  upon  the  American  people. 

From  our  State  Legislature  the  Club,  uniting  its 
efforts  to  those  of  the  Citizens'  Association,  have  de- 
manded and  obtained  a  paid  Fire  Department  and 
Board  of  Health. 

With  a  directness  that  impressed  the  country  and 


20 


startled  the  Legislature,  it  denounced  the  intolerable 
corruption  of  a  class  of  politicians,  claiming  to  be 
Republican,  who,  having  obtained  office  by  profes- 
sions of  patriotism,  were  using  it  for  their  own  emolu- 
ment ;  and  who,  by  their  infamies,  were  not  simply 
disgracing  themselves  and  betraying  their  constitu- 
ents, but  were  tarnishing  the  integrity,  impairing  the 
strength,  and  endangering  the  stability  of  the  great 
party  of  the  Union,  which  had  upheld  the  Constitution 
and  saved  the  country  from  dissolution. 

But  the  special  work  for  which  the  Club  was  organ- 
ized, and  which,  thank  God,  it  assisted  to  accomplish, 
was  in  maintaining  the  integrity  of  New- York,  and 
making  this  metropolis  the  central  fortress  of  national 
unity,  when  our  foes  on  both  continents  were  resolved 
that  it  should  be  the  citadel  and  stronghold  of  se- 
cession. 


ITS  PART  IN  THE  CONTEST  NOT  TO  BE  FORGOTTEN. 

We  are  sometimes  appealed  to  by  the  writers  and 
presses  of  the  party  whose  efforts  to  overthrow  the 
Constitution  were  so  signally  defeated,  to  let  the  past  be 
forgotten. 

It  may  well  be  that  the  Northern  sympathizers  with 
slavery  and  the  Rebellion,  the  intriguers  for  British 
intervention,  the  revilers  of  their  own  Government 
in  its  hour  of  danger,  the  short-sighted  gentlemen 
who  scoffed  at  our  generals,  denounced  the  army,  and 
declared  the  war  a  failure — now  deem  it  best  for 


21 


themselves  and  their  children  that  the  part  they  bore 
in  the  contest  should  be  buried  in  oblivion.  But  no 
such  motive  applies  to  those  ot  our  countrymen, 
whether  Whigs  or  Democrats,  Republicans  or  Aboli- 
tionists, who  stood  faithfully  by  the  country,  from  the 
attack  on  Sumter  to  the  fall  of  Richmond. 

There  is  no  reason,  certainly,  why  this  Club  should 
make  haste  to  forget  the  part  it  bore  in  the  most 
remarkable  contest  of  the  century — a  contest  whose 
perils  were  such  that  the  cabinets  of  France  and  Eng- 
land were  agreed  that  our  success  wras  hopeless;  and 
where  our  triumph,  scattering  their  prophecies  and 
confounding  their  policies,  has  changed  the  destinies 
of  the  world. 

Sweeping  from  the  continent  the  inhuman  des- 
potism with  its  corner-stone  of  human  slavery,  wThich 
the  proud  aristocracies  of  Europe  were  anxious  to 
welcome  to  the  sisterhood  of  nations,  our  free  Re- 
public quietly  disbanded  her  gigantic  army,  and  in- 
stantly was  recognized,  even  by  the  blindest  of  her 
opponents,  as  a  living  power.  Her  moral  influence 
to-day'  moulds  the  legislation  of  Great  Britain,  as  the 
Conservatives  with  an  unaccustomed  offering  of  ex- 
tended suffrage,  hasten  to  do  homage  to  the  spirit 
of  American  freedom  going  forth  to  revolutionize  the 
feudalism  of  Europe,  and  to  plant  in  its  decaying 
soil  the  principles  of  equal  justice,  universal  educa- 
tion, and  catholic  brotherhood. 

The  prominence  of  our  Republic,  so  widely  and  signi- 
ficantly acknowledged  as  the  champion,  the  guardian, 
and  the  exemplar  of  popular  freedom  and  republican 


institutions,  suggests  the  gravest  reflections  upon  the 
work  which  yet  remains  for  this  Club  to  accomplish  in 
assisting  to  reconstruct  in  harmony  our  national  union  : 
to  restore  the  national  prosperity :  to  enlighten,  by  the 
church  and  the  school-house,  the  masses  of  the  South : 
to  correct  among  ourselves  the  legislative  corruption 
which  has  become  so  appalling :  to  secure  the  indepen- 
dence and  purity  of  the  judiciary,  that  sheet-anchor  of  a 
people's  rights :  to  protect  the  integrity  of  our  public 
schools :  the  inviolability  of  the  jmblic  faith :  to  rescue 
our  citizens  from  the  profligacy  of  a  municipality  whose 
system  of  government  is  a  scheme  of  plunder  :  and  to 
lift  the  control  of  our  politics  from  the  secret  caucases 
of  interested  politicians,  to  a  higher  level  and  more 
intelligent  discussion. 

The  moral  power  that  this  Club  can  exercise  in  this 
direction,  from  its  representing  so  largely  the  culture, 
the  commercial  energy,  the  social  worth,  and  material 
wealth  of  our  city,  can  be  learned  from  what  it  has 
already  accomplished. 

But  to-night  we  are  looking  not  to  the  future  but  to 
the  past,  and  to  the  memories  that  we  associate  with 
this  old  Club-House  and  the  precincts  of  this  Union 
Square. 

Had  the  square  no  other  memories  than  those  given 
to  it  by  the  first  Sumter  meeting,  when,  party  lines 
forgotten,  the  people  rose  together  to  maintain  the  Re- 
public, and  the  pulse  of  the  metropolis  beat  respons- 
ive to  the  heart  of  the  country,  the  remembrance  of 
that  eventful  day  would  cling  to  it  forever. 

Could  we  believe  for  a  moment  in  Macaulay's 


23 


New-Zeal  and  or,  who,  from  a  broken  arch  of  London 
bridge,  is  to  sketch  the  ruins  of  St.  Paul's,  and  fancy 
his  descendant,  in  some  more  distant  age,  seeking,  amid 
the  remains  of  the  American  metropolis,  the  sites  that 
should  most  recall  the  early  history  and  youthful 
virtue  of  our  vanished  Republic,  we  can  imagine  him 
lingering  around  this  Union  Square,  where  history 
and  tradition  had  marked  the  spot  where  once  stood 
the  statues  of  Washington  and  of  Lincoln,  recalling  a 
story  more  heroic  in  its  incidents  and  more  wondrous 
in  its  bearings  upon  the  world's  history,  than  any 
that  recurs  to  the  modern  traveler  amid  the  expres- 
sive monuments  of  the  Roman  forum. 

But  we  never  anticipate  for  our  land  the  decrepi- 
tude that  has  overtaken,  in  turn,  the  empires  of  the 
past,  which  were  based  on  privilege  and  oppression. 
We  decline  to  anticipate  their  ignominious  end  as 
the  ultimate  fate  of  a  Republic  which  rests  upon 
the  Christian  principle  of  equal  brotherhood,  and 
which,  from  its  infancy,  has  acknowledged  the  truth 
that  "Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation." 

Let  us  rather  trust  and  believe  that  the  memories 
we  leave  behind  us  may  serve  to  animate  to  new 
devotion,  and  more  perfect  confidence  in  our  institu- 
tions, those  who  shall  succeed  us ;  and  our  confidence 
in  the  Republic  can  hardly  be  deemed  presumptuous 
when  a  statesman  like  Mr.  Gladstone  writes  to  our 
associate,  Mr.  Cyrus  Field:  "Looking  to  your  past, 
there  is  nothing  which  Ave  may  not  hope  of  your 
future." 


24 


At  the  close  of  the  President's  Address,  which  was  received  with 
hearty  and  prolonged  applause,  eloquent  and  feeling  speeches 
upon  the  past  and  future  of  the  Club  were  made  by  Isaac  H. 
Bailey,  Esq.,  the  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge,  Jackson  S.  Schultz,  Esq., 
Col.  Rush  C.  Hawkins,  Col.  Thomas  B.  Van  Buren,  the  Hon.  E.  D. 
Culver,  the  Hon  Horace  Greeley,  and  Charles  Butler,  Esq. 

The  Union  Glee  Club  was  introduced  by  Col.  Frank  E.  Howe, 
during  an  interval  in  the  speeches,  and  sang  with  fine  effect  some 
of  the  patriotic  songs  sung  during  the  war. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  R.  H.  McCurdy,  the  thanks  of  the  Club  were 
unanimously  voted  to  the  President  for  his  Address,  which  was 
ordered  to  be  printed. 

The  formal  adjournment  of  the  Club  was  succeeded  by  the 
usual  informal  festivities,  which,  in  honor  of  the  occasion,  as  their 
last  assemblage  in  the  old  Club-House,  were  continued  until  a  late 
hour. 


APPENDIX. 


The  Inauguration  of  tlio  New  Club  House,  on  the  evening  of  the 
10th  of  April,  was  attended  by  about  twelve  hundred  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  including  officers  of  the  army  and  navy  and  distin- 
guished guests  from  various  parts  of  America  and  Europe. 

Some  eighty  letters  of  regret  were  received  by  the  Committee 
from  gentlemen  unable  to  attend,  and  the  following  brief  extracts, 
indicating  the  general  character  of  the  tributes  paid  by  our  most 
eminent  statesmen  from  all  quarters  to  the  services  of  the  Club, 
may  perhaps  fitly  find  place  in  this  record  of  its  past  memories. 

FROM  HON.  SENATOR  EDWIN  D.  MORGAN. 

"  Most  cordially  do  I  applaud  your  movement.  As  a  central 
rally-point  for  men  of  high,  unselfish  aims  and  patriotic  purposes, 
the  Union  League  Club  is  destined  hereafter,  as  heretofore,  to  be 
of  incalculable  service,  especially  in  junctures  like  the  present,  in 
pacifying  the  country,  and  in  reconciling  by  degrees  those  differ- 
ences which  have  grown  out  of  the  great  civil  war — a  war  which 
you,  gentlemen,  have  done  so  much  to  bring  to  an  auspicious  close. 
As  a  resident  of  New-York,  I  feel  a  natural  pride  in  recalling  the 
part  performed  by  the  Club.  Its  history  I  well  know,  from  its  first 
organization,  in  18G3,  till  now  ;  it  has  been  my  privilege  as  a  citi- 
zen not  only,  but  I  may  also  say  duty,  in  an  official  way,  to  keep 
informed  as  to  its  action  in  raising  troops,  in  aiding  hospitals,  fur- 
nishing camp  and  other  supplies,  and  in  all  ways,  moral  and  mate- 
rial, nobly  sustaining  the  Government  in  its  dire  struggle.  I  can- 
not conceive  how  the  work  which  the  Club  has  done,  and  done  so 
well,  and  which  all  must  see  was  to  a  degree  vital  to  the  success 
of  the  national  arms,  could  have  been  accomplished  otherwise  than 
through  your  organization.    Your  Club  sprang  from  the  necessi- 


2G 


ties  of  the  period,  and  was  held  together  during  the  war  by  a  com- 
mon danger,  and  by  common  hopes  and  interests ;  its  continuance 
is  demanded,  as  I  have  said,  by  the  relation  that  the  individual 
bears  to  the  commonwealth ;  and  its  membership  in  the  future  will 
be  even  more  closely  connected  than  hitherto  by  the  recollection 
of  common  sacrifices,  by  common  tradition  of  the  recent  past. 
Representatives  of  all  classes  of  business  and  professional  pur- 
suits, and  of  the  higher  walks  of  literature  and  the  arts  in  the 
city  of  New-York,  are  to  assemble  from  day  to  day  in  your  new 
quarters,  not  alone  for  social  intercourse,  but  as  citizens  of  the  Re- 
public, for  the  interchange  of  views  and  opinions  on  matters  of 
general  concern,  with  the  common  good  in  view,  and  that  good  the 
best  interests  of  the  whole  country,  but  not  as  partisans.  With- 
out a  centre  like  yours,  to  aid  in  giving  direction  to  it,  the  sentiment 
of  the  public  mind,  even  in  a  period  of  insurrection,  is  slow  ;  often- 
times, too,  in  deciding  upon  plans  of  action.  The  attack  upon  Sum- 
ter provoked  the  loyal  millions  of  the  North,  but  it  was  the  meet- 
ing in  Union  Square — that  now  historic  popular  outburst  (called 
together  in  much  the  same  manner  as  was  your  Club) — which  gave 
direction,  as  I  had  good  reason  at  the  time  to  know,  to  that  current 
of  patriotism  which  continued  to  flow  on  unceasingly  until  the  re- 
bellion was  swept  away.  ...  I  welcome  your  proceedings  on 
Thursday  evening,  not  only  as  an  index  of  your  prosperity,  but  as 
an  earnest  that  the  Union  League  Club  is  to  become  one  of  the 
permanent  institutions  of  our  city.  ...  I  need  not  hope  that 
under  its  wise  managers  the  Club  will  continue  to  hold  its  well- 
earned  place  in  the  hearts  of  good  people  everywhere." 

FROM  GOV.  FENTON. 

"  I  had  thought  it  possible  to  join  you,  and  my  disappointment 
is  fully  equal  to  the  pleasure  I  had  anticipated  from  an  occasion  so 
expressive  of  the  prosperity,  growth,  and  influence  of  the  organiza- 
tion. The  history  of  the  League  bears  witness  to  the  fidelity  and 
loyal  spirit  of  the  nation  throughout  our  severe  trial  of  war,  and 
may  well  inspire  confidence  that  its  future  career  will  be  no  less 


27 


useful  and  honorable.  While  the  exigency  that  called  it  into  being 
no  longer  exists,  still  there  are  duties  of  another  character,  hardly 
less  grave,  that  invite  its  support,  and  I  can  readily  believe  that  its 
noble  purpose,  the  stirring  events  which  gave  it  renown,  and  the 
associations  connected  with  its  name  and  record,  have  imparted  a 
vitality  and  power  to  be  exhausted  by  no  single  event  or  day,  but 
that  are  for  all  events,  and  for  all  time." 

FROM  MR.  SPEAKER  COLFAX. 

"  I  send  you,  however,  my  hearty  congratulations  on  the  pros- 
perity of  your  patriotic  organization,  and  its  illustrious  record  dur- 
ing the  years  of  its  existence.  Its  invaluable  aid  in  sending  sol- 
diers to  the  field,  and  its  no  less  important  work  in  concentrating 
and  proclaiming  the  public  sentiment  of  the  loyal  men  of  New- 
York,  the  material  aid  its  members  freely  proffered  to  the  treasury 
when  the  Government  loans  flagged  so  sadly  in  the  interior ;  its 
prompt  and  cordial  adherence  to  the  policy  of  our  martyr  Presi- 
dent when  he  broke  every  yoke  and  bade  the  oppressed  go  free ; 
its  manly  defiance  of  popular  prejudice,  when  your  Union  League 
Club  publicly  gave  its  hearty  God-speed  to  the  colored  regiment 
it  had  raised ;  and  its  inflexible  determination  that  loyalty  should 
rule  in  all  the  region  that  loyal  sacrifices  had  saved — are  all  written 
down  in  a  history  which  posterity  shall  read  to  your  honor ;  and 
your  children  shall  remember  with  pride,  that,  in  the  darkest 
hours  of  peril  to  the  country,  not  one  of  all  your  organization  ever 
allowed  himself  to  despair  of  the  Republic ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
was  willing  to  throw  liis  all  into  the  scale  to  preserve  our  national 
existence." 

FROM  HON.  R.  H.  DANA,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNION 
CLUB  OF  BOSTON. 

"  I  beg  you  to  assure  the  L'nion  League  that  the  Union  Club  of 
Boston  knows  and  appreciates  the  great  services  (greater  than  per- 
haps history  will  ever  record)  which  were  done  for  our  cause  by 


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the  Union  Leagues  of  New- York  and  Philadelphia  in  the  three 
scenes  of  its  life  and  death  struggle — the  field  of  battle,  the  press, 
and  the  polls." 

FROM  HON.  HORACE  BINNEY,  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

"  I  feel  myself  to  be  infinitely  honored  by  your  invitation  to 
attend  the  inauguration  of  the  Union  League  Club  of  New- York 
on  the  evening  of  the  ICth  instant.  The  established  character  of 
that  Club  for  loyalty  to  the  Union,  and  for  the  steadfast  defense 
of  the  National  authority,  as  well  as  of  the  obligation  of  the  Con- 
titution,  makes  such  an  invitation  a  compliment  to  all  who  receive 
it,  as  being  thought  to  be  in  sympathy  with  these  elevated  virtues, 
and  I  am,  on  this  ground,  proud  to  return  my  thanks  for  it,  while 
it  is  entirely  beyond  my  power  to  accept  it  with  personal  attend- 
ance." [The  venerable  writer,  the  most  eminent  of  our  surviving 
jurists,  is  now  in  his  eighty-ninth  year.] 

FROM  SENATOR  SHERMAN. 

' -  My  best  wishes  and  cooperation  will  always  be  for  the  con- 
tinued triumph  of  the  national  and  patriotic  principles  that  have 
heretofore  guided  your  League,  and  I  have  been  in  a  situation  to 
know  how  useful  it  has  been  in  its  influence  not  only  in  New- York 
but  throughout  the  country." 

FROM  GEORGE  H.  BOKER,  SECRETARY  OF  THE  UNION 
LEAGUE  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

"  Permit  me  to  congratulate  you,  in  the  name  of  our  League,  on 
your  occupation  of  the  magnificent  building  which  will  henceforth 
be  identified  by  your  name — a  name  already  made  illustrious  by 
your  many  patriotic  deeds — and  to  hope  that  your  prosperity  will 
incite  you  to  enlarge  your  field  of  usefulness,  and  to  extend  the 
influence  of  your  noble  principles  over  the  remotest  limits  of  your 
great  State." 


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